Zambia Agribusiness Society

To those who've been visiting my inbox asking me on how to raise a successful cabbage nursery, below are the easy steps to follow. 1. Always use certified seeds with special attributes, such as tolerance/resistance to pests (DBM) and diseases (black rot) and high yielding. 2. The seed rate is about 250 to 300g/ha. Mind you, this will depend on the type of cabbage you intend to grow such as small, medium & large size heads. 3. Do not set up the nursery in fields previously grown with a cabbage crop. 4. Seedbed preparations should be of 1m in width, 15 to 20cm in height and of a convenient length. Can be 15m, 20m or 30m long. Length varies from farm to farm depending on management preferences. 5. After the beds have been made, broadcast a handful of D or MAP fertilizer plus 3 handfuls of well decomposed farmyard manure or compost per square meter. After broadcasting, work the manure/compost & fertilizer in the soil with a rake or hole at a depth of 5cm. 6.

When you grow your cabbage successfully, you’re guaranteed of a bumper harvest. What’s more is the fact that you can plant cabbages throughout the year. All you need is enough land to rotate your crops as well as disease and pest control and you can enjoy non-stop harvests. Types of Cabbages: There are several varieties of cabbage varieties available varying in size and taste. The larger varieties take a little longer to mature while the smaller varieties usually mature faster. The most common in Zambia is the green cabbage, followed by red cabbage. Not so common are savoy types (curly cabbage) which are tolerant to cold conditions and have deep-wrinkled dark green-leaves. Below are some common cabbages planted according to the time they take to mature: 1.     Golden acer (green cabbage) matures in 65 days and Red express matures in 63 days. These are called early cabbages . Baby cabbages takes approximately 71 days to grow and are called mid-season cabbages . 2.     Red c

We often get questions from people who want to grow cabbages but do not know where to start. On this post we try to elaborate some key factors and steps to follow that we think would be of great help to any farmer. At the end of the article leave us a comment to let us know if you found this helpful and suggest topics you would want us to discuss. We would love to hear from you. Climatic Conditions Cabbage is a cool season crop. The optimum temperature range for cabbage production is 15 to 20°C. Above 25°C growth stops. The minimum temperature is 0°C (freezing), but cold hardened plants can tolerate temperatures as low as -10°C. Young plants less than six millimetres in diameter can tolerate both colder and warmer temperatures than older plants. These young plants are said to be in the juvenile phase of growth. Plants which have matured past the juvenile phase will flower if temperatures are less than 10°C for five to six weeks. Nursery A cabbage nursery bed is supposed to b

We often get questions from people who want to grow cabbages but do not know where to start. On this post we try to elaborate some key factors and steps to follow that we think would be of great help to any farmer. At the end of the article leave us a comment to let us know if you found this helpful and suggest topics you would want us to discuss. We would love to hear from you. Climatic Conditions Cabbage is a cool season crop. The optimum temperature range for cabbage production is 15 to 20°C. Above 25°C growth stops. The minimum temperature is 0°C (freezing), but cold hardened plants can tolerate temperatures as low as -10°C. Young plants less than six millimetres in diameter can tolerate both colder and warmer temperatures than older plants. These young plants are said to be in the juvenile phase of growth. Plants which have matured past the juvenile phase will flower if temperatures are less than 10°C for five to six weeks. Cabbage Nursery A cabbage nursery bed is sup

When you grow cabbages, you are guaranteed a bumper harvest. What is more interesting is that you can plant cabbages throughout the year. All you need is enough land to rotate your crops , as well as control diseases and pest and you can enjoy nonstop harvest. Types of Cabbages: There are several cabbage varieties available varying in size and taste. The large varieties takes a little longer to mature. While the smaller varieties mature faster. The most common in Zambia is the green cabbage , followed by the red cabbage . Not so common are suvoy types (curly cabbages) which are tolerant to cold conditions and have deep wrinkled dark green leaves. Below are some common cabbages planted according to the time they mature: Golden Acer (green cabbage) matures in 65 days and red express matures in 63 days. These are called early cabbages. Baby cabbage takes approximately 71 days to grow and are called mid-season cabbages. Red cabbage which looks like the red acer takes 75 days

Cabbages grow better in a cool environment and are easy to plant, easy to care for and harvest. 1. Land Preparation: Crop rotation should be observed for cabbage farming as the crop uses too many nutrients from the soil in a single growing season. The land, which should have access to plenty of sun and be well drained, must be prepared well in advance - preferably some weeks before planting the seedlings. Land should be nutrient rich and well tilled to a depth of at least six inches. Loosen soil in the planting bed and mix in a two inch layer of compost along with a standard application of a balanced organic fertilizer or manure . 2. Seed Selection and Seedlings: Select the best variety of seed - many new cabbage farmers fail at this stage. The seedling process is the most important part of cabbage growing. If starting with seeds, start 7 weeks or so before the last expected frost. Transplant the seedlings when they are 4 to 6 weeks old. During transplantation of cabbage